Google preps iPhone search website revamp with app drawer — Google is reportedly preparing a large tweak to its iPhone-optimized search page that would put it much closer in line with the quality of the native mobile app. A discovery on Saturday has shown a version with tabs on top that ...

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

DOD's 'Hello, I am a contractor' policy kicks in

Contractors must say who they are in person, in telephone calls and in letters

Defense Department officials have changed the department's regulations to require service contractors to identify themselves as contractors, whether in person or in a letter.

DOD issued its final rule May 5, even though there has been an interim rule in effect since September 2010.

The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Supplement now states that service contractor employees must say they are contractors or be introduced as such in a conversation. Contractors are also required to note who they are "in telephone conversations and informal and formal written correspondence."

Officials are leaving it up to agency heads to decide exactly how to carry out the new rule.

"But it's not a problem as I only go online to watch TV dramas," says Jiang, 21, of the southwestern city Chengdu. "I agree with the government that 'harmony' is most important for China now," she says, using the Communist Party's term for its policy of stifling dissent while pursuing development.

Last week, China established a new government agency designed to ensure that the rest of the nation's world-beating 457 million Internet users are equally compliant and that its fast-growing Internet companies, several of which are waiting for a listing on U.S. stock exchanges, play by Beijing's rules.

The State Internet Information Office said it will ensure the "healthy development" of China's Internet. Assuming responsibilities now spread across several ministries, the agency will supervise both content and companies in everything from online news reporting to gaming and video.

WASHINGTON — Uninsured Americans — including those with incomes well above the poverty line — leave hospitals with unpaid tabs of up to $49 billion a year, according to a government study released today.

On average, uninsured families pay only about 12% of their hospital bills in full. Families with incomes above 400% of the poverty level, or about $88,000 a year for a family of four, pay about 37% of their hospital bills in full, according to the Department of Health and Human Services study.

"This report shows that even higher-income, uninsured families are struggling to meet the high costs of health care," Sherry Glied, assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at Health and Human Services, said in a statement. "No family should bear the burden of being one illness or accident away from bankruptcy."

Internet Storm Center researcher Bojan Zdrnja writes that the attackers are mostly targeting Wordpress sites, and are injecting PHP code that generates pages with images based on highly-searched content. Google then indexes these pages, and the images show up on Google's image search.

Friday, May 6, 2011

DON-8r (pronounced "donator") is a small, fund-raising robot that travels through public spaces relying upon coin donations from passers-by to keep it moving. Each donation not only helps to power DON-8r but also goes directly towards supporting a chosen charity.

Inspired by the increasingly negative attitude that many people have towards on-the-street charity workers, DON-8r raises money through encouraging playful and empathetic support from strangers and passers-by.

Monday, May 2, 2011

If E.T. has been trying to phone us since returning home, he can stop. After four years of scanning the skies for radio signals that might be evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, the Allen Telescope Array in California is shutting down, a victim of funding cuts.

InformationWeek reports that due to sharp funding cuts from the National Science Foundation and California, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute has shut down the 42-antenna array while it embarks on a more terrestrial search for other funding sources.

"2011 was expected to be a banner year for the group because recent space probe missions have revealed the locations of over 1,000 possible Earthlike planets — and with them, regions of space where the array could scan for signs of the civilizations we hope to find on planets like our own," wrote Annalee Newitz on io9.com, a website devoted to science and science fiction.